


Homewrecker

by Your_Mayoesty



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Haseul is way too dumb and gay and lonely, Renjun is way too smart and evil, Single Mom AU, Useless Lesbians, Vivi is way too smart and loveable, there aren't enough single mom AUs in this world, title is lame ikik
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24828496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Your_Mayoesty/pseuds/Your_Mayoesty
Summary: Haseul meets her joke celebrity crush while shopping and gets a lot more than what she bargained for.
Relationships: Jo Haseul/Viian Wong | ViVi
Comments: 26
Kudos: 181





	Homewrecker

“Jiwoo, I am perfectly capable of living on my own.”

“You know that’s not what I meant Haseul! You are very capable, too capable, but are you even happy?”

Haseul stops walking and pauses, deciding to take unnecessary interest in the granola bars’ nutrition facts. Knowing that her favourite granola bar had 190 calories per serving did nothing to lessen the weight of Jiwoo’s words.

Recently, Jiwoo called relentlessly, expressing her endless worries and suggestions. A few weeks ago, Haseul got drunk and emotional and overspilled way too much to the worst person to ever overspill to.

Of course, Jiwoo isn’t wrong. Haseul’s life is already set. She’ll marry her job—no, scratch that, she's already married to her job—and die lonely, too inept to even care for houseplant or cat. When mentioned, she’d shrug it off, pretend it didn’t bother her when it _did_ unbearably so. Everything about her mindless meaningless routine life, from the same routes, the same exhausting eight hours of work, and most importantly, the same empty apartment that always awaited her, bothered her. Just like her nice and expensive apartment, she too is well off, but empty and lonely.

She sets down the granola bars into her basket and begins walking again. She doesn’t want to admit any of that to Jiwoo, nor does she want to wholeheartedly accept that fact herself honestly—at least not when she’s sober.

“Oh, Jiwoo. Forgetting to respect your elders again?” Haseul weakly jokes, knowing very well what is about to happen next. She lowers the volume on her phone and lifts it away from her ear.

Still, no matter how many times she does this, she winces.

“Haseul Jo! I am just looking out for you! I know the way you look at Jinsol and Jungeun and baby Yermin isn’t just ‘zoning out’.”

Haseul can practically hear Jiwoo’s hands waving around dramatically. She gives a rickety chuckle. Jiwoo, of course, pays no mind.

“Hell, even the way you look at me and Sooyoung is concerning! I know you don’t work yourself to the bone just because of that hardworking, nice, leader bullshit. You are _lonely_ and _distracting_ yourself and you need to settle down and make your own little Jung family before I have to send you to therapy or some shit.”

Haseul awkwardly laughs again because she has no other idea of how to react. She picks up a can of instant coffee (if Jiwoo knew she’d probably scream something about her not sleeping enough and somehow relate that to her loneliness), pretending each word didn’t stab her poor poor heart. Jiwoo, for some reason, is extra brutal today.

“Y’know Jiwoo, Vivi Wong of the local news is the only one-”

“Don’t bring our sweet innocent little local news anchor into your mess! She doesn’t even know you! And you don’t actually like her. She is also one of your sad distractions from your loneliness and you need to stop using her as a bullshit excuse as to why you won’t go to any of the dates I set up for you-”

“Your dates are just as bullcrap!” Jiwoo is right, again. Haseul honestly can’t care less about her local news anchor, but she was pretty cute and her entire friend group thought so too. But Haseul is also right. She thinks of herself as a pretty good partner, but none of those dates worked out. Plus, she didn’t like any of them.

“Maybe they are, but at least we’re trying. Put more effort into your own fucking life Haseul. I don’t need you going into therapy because you’re lonely and stupid. I am happily in a relationship but I can still say that you are a very capable and attractive woman Haseul. Find a nice fish in the sea! Maybe you should just ask out your stupid ‘celebrity crush’ Vivi Wong...”

Haseul stops listening to her best friend’s rambling, because _holy guacamole_ , Jiwoo had to be a magician of some sort. Right when she said Vivi Wong, Vivi Wong of the local news was summoned, dressed comfortably in a loose T-shirt and sweatpants instead of her typical dress shirt and skirt, debating between two types of bread. Haseul blinks three times to make sure that it was _indeed_ real and almost drops the cereal box she’s now holding. She finds it hard to believe that the woman she sees on-screen every day was only a couple feet away from her and _real_.

True, Vivi Wong was pretty cute on screen, but without the harsh lights, makeup, and formal get up, she’s much more different in the best way possible. She’s ethereal and adorable. All of Haseul’s senses seem to focus on Vivi and Vivi only. She thinks she can feel Vivi’s (most likely soft and floral scented) hair in her own hand as she watches Vivi tuck a stray strand behind her ear.

_Darn, darn, darn. She’s too cute._

_Oh no. I might be having a heart attack._

Vivi might have just been promoted from joke celebrity crush to _actual_ crush.

“Hey hag, you still listening?”

Haseul’s little zone-out session ends and she’s back in her sad, sad reality where she isn’t holding Vivi. Her grip on her phone is also a lot more sweaty now. _Ew. Gross._

When she finally speaks, it sounds like she just ran a marathon. “Jiwoo. Vivi Wong. Right here, right now.”

Haseul flinches at Jiwoo’s booming squeal.

“WOAH NO WAY. ARE YOU SERIOUS? ASK HER OUT.”

Haseul scoffs. “What? No. That’s dumb and-”

“PERFECT. OH MY GOSH, I CAN’T BELIEVE I DIDN’T THINK OF THIS BEFORE.”

“Wait, what do you mean-”

“I AM SO TIRED OF YOUR LONELY ASS. IF YOU DON’T ASK THE PRETTY NEWS ANCHOR OUT I WILL-”

Haseul hangs up and pockets away her phone. She ignores the vibrations she feels against her back pocket only a second later.

_Jiwoo is so stupid._

_But she’s also scary and her even scarier wife is connected to everyone._

_Ah fiddlesticks, what if Sooyoung gets Jiwoo and Vivi connected?_

_Jiwoo is probably already planning something._

_Sooyoung is probably already connected to Vivi._

_Well. Vivi **is** very pretty and I **am** sad and lonely._

Haseul shakes away the impending nightmare of Jiwoo getting connected to what might be her new crush. Perhaps it was because of fear, or the adrenaline that came after a conversation with Jiwoo, or the continued vibrations of her phone, but Haseul finds her legs moving towards Vivi until she’s next to her, faking interest in the various assortment of bagels. She looks at Vivi. Most of her hair blocks her face, but Haseul can see that her lips are pressed together and her eyebrows are furrowed. She’s still debating between the two loaves, and she’s still very, very pretty and very, very cute.

Haseul hasn’t felt this way since college.

Haseul’s mouth and hands move faster than her brain. She’s holding a bag of rye bread and kindly smiling at Vivi in her “kind motherly manager” way.

“Can I suggest the rye bread? It’s not as gross as whole wheat but it’s healthier than white.”

Vivi looks up and the curtain of auburn hair is gone, so Haseul is staring directly into Vivi’s warm brown eyes. Haseul chokes on air. _Nothing_ could’ve prepared her for that.

And then Vivi smiles that kilowatt smile Haseul sees all the time on TV and all of her previous worries of coming off as weird wash away. She’s not sure whether she wants to run away or kiss Vivi right now.

“I’ve never tried rye bread before, but that sounds like a good idea!” Vivi sets down the two loaves and takes the loaf from Haseul’s hand and places it into her grocery cart. The action shouldn’t have felt so personal, but Haseul’s favourite bread was rye bread, Vivi was her new infatuation, she didn’t expect Vivi to take the rye bread, and she lived off of people listening to her suggestions.

_Ah, shish kabobs. I want to come home to her every day._

For what felt like an eternity, Haseul just stares at Vivi, who is now putting a bag of bagels (cinnamon raisin, good taste Haseul notes, even though she believed that pumpernickel was better) and about to leave.

 _Nononono she can’t leave. I have to get her number!_ Haseul makes a split-second decision and almost shouts, “You’re Vivi Wong from the local news channel right?”

Vivi tilts her head ( _cute, cute, cute_ ) and nods ( _cute, cute, cute_ ).

“Can I have your autograph? I, um, really enjoyed your performance today! When you told me, well me and thousands of others, to you know, watch the traffic today. I got to work on time because of that.”

She immediately regrets the words the second she says them and suppresses a facepalm. _Stupid, stupid, stupid, that was so stupid._

She is relieved to see that Vivi actually blushes and her eyes are blown wide with surprise, no sign of any offence. Haseul was kinda surprised herself. You’d think a cute news anchor like Vivi would be prone to public attention.

“Thank you,” she ducked her head shyly. “And yeah, I’ll sign something for you.”

_Cute, cute, cute._

Haseul opens her mouth to respond but nothing comes out. They stare at each other for a solid five seconds and Haseul imagines sexy sax instead of popular pop in the background. They break away and giggle.

_What was that?_

_Oh right._ She just asked for an autograph and therefore had to provide pen and paper. She pats herself down and finds a cheap ballpoint pen in her blazer pocket, but no paper. She hurriedly looks for something to write on and settles on the cereal box in her basket.

_I’m buying it anyway._

Vivi, true to her word, signs with the cereal box. “Surely someone dressed as sharp as you can find something better than a cereal box for me to sign.”

_Did she just hit on me?_

Haseul flushes red. “What? N-no. You just caught me at an inconvenience.”

Vivi giggles and hands back the cereal box and pen. Their fingers brush for a millisecond (Haseul wonders if Vivi did it intentionally) and Haseul ignores the shock it gave her. God, she’s touch-starved.

Haseul wonders how much money she’d get if she sold the box on eBay and then wonders how much it’d take to get her phone number from Vivi. Haseul felt some chemistry, so she goes for it.

“So Vivi, do you think-”

“Mommy who’s that?”

Vivi’s smile fades into what can only be described as a motherly concern. Haseul looks up, right, left, and finally down to meet the owner of the soft and small voice.

_No. Way._

“Ah. It’s a nice lady Mommy met.” Vivi’s teasing tone is completely gone and now matches the soft and small voice of the boy. It matched Jungeun’s voice whenever Yerim started pouting.

Holy cow. Haseul feels her heart drop to her feet and her stomach rise to her throat.

Vivi, the only person Haseul found interest in since a long time, has a kid. A kid big enough to walk and talk and carry an amusing amount of ice cream containers in one arm and tug at the grey fabric of Vivi’s pants.

_Darn it._

The realization hit her in waves. First, the fact that someone like Vivi is even obtainable was shocking. Second, _oh my gosh she has a kid and is married like Jinsol and Jungeun_. She probably dated some perfect mystery person for a long time and was deeply in love, got married, and raised a kid as the cherry on top, just like Jinsol and Jungeun.

Said kid pouts and asks with big round eyes, “Can we have ice cream before dinner tonight?” Haseul is impressed with the boy’s coy way of using his undeniable cuteness (that he had to have gotten from Vivi) to get what he wanted. When he grows up, Haseul will consider hiring him. He’ll make a great asset to the marketing team with his charm.

The boy himself is very cute even when he’s not trying. He holds Vivi’s ethereal beauty and someone else’s angular suave. He looks too much like a mixture of Vivi and someone else to have been adopted.

_Shucks._

That means that Vivi is most likely married to a man and had to have the frickity frack with him to make this beautiful child.

Vivi is so, so, so far from being a “fish in the sea”.

Vivi giggles and seems to be in no mood to fight. She picks up the various ice cream containers and puts them next to Haseul’s rye bread. “I’ll think about it Renjun.” She winks at her child and presses a finger to her lips.

_Renjun._

Haseul wants to gag thinking about what would happen next. She’ll go home with “Renjun”, share a pint of ice cream with him, only to surely get mock-scolded by her husband once he comes home from work before he swoops both of them into his arms, making one happy, picture-perfect family…

_“I know the way you look at Jinsol and Jungeun and baby Yermin isn’t just you ‘zoning out’.”_

Haseul sighs and thinks, Why _are you always right Jiwoo?_

Haseul doesn’t want to be a homewrecker, but that doesn’t mean she can’t leave a lasting impression.

She kneels down to be Renjun’s height.

“Hey, Renjun.” The boy shyly ducks behind Vivi’s legs, fists holding tightly onto her pants. Haseul shoves away all thoughts of Vivi’s husband mysteriously disappearing and taking Vivi and Renjun for herself.

“Your mom’s like a superhero! She saved me from traffic this morning!”

Vivi, to Haseul’s delight, giggles, but Renjun, on the other hand, lost all his shy and adorable charm and blows a loud, spit-filled raspberry at Haseul.

“Get away from my mom, hag.”

Both Haseul’s and Vivi’s jaws drop and Haseul becomes speechless. She’d been called hag plenty of times, Jiwoo did only a couple of minutes ago, but never by a scheming _child_ who somehow knew how to mind-read Haseul and therefore knew about her homewrecking plans. Just how in the world is she supposed to react?

Thankfully, Vivi steps in. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Renjun Huang, apologize this instant!” Haseul finds what she assumes to be Vivi’s threatening voice adorable. But she also finds the knowledge of Renjun’s full name discomforting because the last name just proves her theory correct, and she really, really doesn’t want to be a homewrecker, even if she wants to tease Vivi for her angry face.

God, she hopes that her husband knew how lucky he was.

“I’m sorry,” Renjun grumbles, disgust all over his face.

Vivi glares down at him and harshly whispers something in what Haseul thinks is Chinese. Haseul doesn’t find her threatening voice adorable anymore and is a tiny bit scared. The action reminds Haseul of her old Chinese teacher whenever a rowdy classmate acted up. Honestly, Haseul finds it pretty hot. Pathetic right?

Renjun sighs and narrows his eyes. “Ma’am. You’re not a hag and I was wrong to call you a no-no word.”

Vivi beams and ruffles Renjun’s hair affectionately. “I’m so sorry. He gets a little...protective over me sometimes. I guess that’s my fault.”

_What does that mean?_

Vivi seems startled and quickly switches the topic. “Thank you Renjunie ( _Renjunie, what the heck that’s so cute_ ), but Mommy is perfectly capable of keeping herself safe from a nice woman like um...”

Vivi looks at Haseul and Haseul is momentarily confused. Not just by the look Vivi’s giving her, but by _everything_. Why would Renjun be overprotective of his mom?

 _Oh, wait, that’s right_. _She doesn’t know my name._ Haseul smiles brightly, still determined to get this hellspawn to like her. “Haseul Jo, Ruler of the Seven Seas.”

Renjun’s face remains stone-cold. “The Ruler of the Seven Seas would be much cooler than you. You’re probably just an old geezer who works in a boring office.”

 _Ouch._ That hurt way more than it should have, probably because it was true and it came from the child of the very woman she was pining after.

“Renjun who is teaching you these words?!”

“You know what? You’re right Renjun. I am just an old office geezer, but I work with your favourite ice cream company and get lots of free ice cream and money.” Haseul pointed at the ice cream in Vivi’s cart. It was true. Working in advertising had its perks especially if-

Vivi’s eyes widen and Renjun too looks off-guard at the talk of ice cream, “Oh my gosh, Haseul Jo! I knew that sounded familiar! You wrote that little ice cream jingle. Renjunie and I love it!”

Haseul overflows with pride and laughs. “You are very much correct.”

“Perhaps I should ask for your autograph as well!”

Haseul feels so overwhelmed and flustered. No critic, no matter how grand, made her feel like so. Before she can reply, Vivi is gasping at the time on her phone.

“Oh my, I need to get the oven started. It was really nice meeting you Haseul. I’ll...see you around I guess.” Vivi gives a nod of acknowledgement and quickly grabs Renjun’s hand before making her way to the checkout aisle.

 _I’ll see you around I guess._ But not in the way that Haseul wants. She ignores the tightening in her chest as she thinks about Vivi rushing home to cook dinner as a faceless man wraps his arms around her waist. Vivi will probably jokingly protest, and Renjun will fake gag.

They belong in some kind of commercial or catalogue. Haseul supposes that she shouldn’t be surprised that someone like Vivi would’ve already settled down, but still...

Haseul feels vibrations in her back pocket again, and this time, she actually picks up.

“Boy do I have a front headline news story for you. Heh. News.”

Haseul thinks of every tiny incident that made her catch the morning rush hour. She thinks that if she didn’t take that one sip of water, she wouldn’t have to be so squished.

She’s also so, so, so tired and her coffee shots haven’t kicked in yet. That _totally_ wasn’t a result of Haseul creepily googling “Vivi Wong” and reading every article that contained her name as a poor attempt to find out more about Vivi’s personal life every night for the past week.

She blames Jiwoo, who kept pestering her because “a kid does not mean not single!” and “you should find out if she’s available!”

Of course, she didn’t find anything—only articles she wrote, videos she appeared in, and at best, a short profile on the news website. Knowing where Vivi got her Journalism degree did nothing to help Haseul know if she was in homewrecker territory or not. Thinking about her stalkerish activities only makes her feel more guilty, and she tries to think about anything else. She can’t get distracted at work.

As if the universe was reprimanding her for her sins, the subway jerks and another body collides onto her front, nearly knocking both of them to the ground. As a reflex, Haseul tightens her grip on the handrail and wraps a firm arm around the person and in turn, the other person hugs her middle.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”

 _Hey, that voice sounds familia- no way._ Haseul looked down to meet a tuff of auburn hair and sparkling doe eyes. Is the universe reprimanding her or rewarding her? Haseul doesn’t think she had that much karma built up…

“Vivi Wong.”

“Well, um, yea. That’s me.” Vivi forces a laugh and Haseul continues to look down at her.

They remain in that position for a while and Haseul wishes she can be doing this in some other context, and forever.

_She has probably done this with her husband, who’s probably taller than me. Dang it, they do that gross subway PDA thing where Vivi holds onto her husband’s arms or hugs him._

Vivi coughs.

Haseul hastily removes her arm from Vivi and moves to give Vivi space on the handrail. “My bad. I didn’t mean-”

Vivi laughs warmly and grabs the handrail overhead. Haseul represses her flinch at the intimacy of their hands and calms her breathing. “No, it’s fine. I know it was unintentional. To be frank, I didn’t mind. It was nice actually.”

Haseul dumbfoundedly blinks at her. Was she flirting? She had to be, but she was married with a kid (even if he was weird). Haseul concludes that straight girls were another breed of human.

Haseul snaps out of her thoughts by the loud ringing of Vivi’s phone.

“Sooyoung?”

Sooyoung? Many people can be named Sooyoung. It can’t be _her_ Sooyoung.

“What...Oh, Sicheng can’t make it?... What?... What about Kun?... No way, he’s always free on Mondays… Oh really? That’s unfortunate… Yes, I know, I know, but I have to stay late. Johnny can’t take over...You know I can’t just leave Renjunie alone; he's four. Why are we having this conversation Sooyoung? Get to the point my stop is soon…”

Haseul tries to make out the conversion. Seems like there was nobody to watch over Renjun tonight. _Busy family_ , Haseul thinks with sympathy. _Her husband must be a real breadwinner._ With each pause, Vivi’s eyebrows knit closer together and her shoulders incline higher and closer to her body. Haseul really wants to hug her, but feels like it’s too inappropriate.

“Wait, you know Haseul?”

Haseul cowers at whatever comes next. _That_ is definitely her Sooyoung, and her Sooyoung was no good. Did she say something wrong to Jiwoo? _Oh dear._

“Really? How do you know she’d be up for that?... Wow, that’s amazing, but I’m not surprised. Thank you so much Sooyoung!... See ya!”

Vivi turns to look at Haseul and Haseul thinks she’s looking at the sun.

“Haseul,” she squeals and Haseul instantly softens, “Thank you so, so much. Sooyoung should have texted you the details by now. My phone number is in there somewhere.”

_At least something good was going to come out of this._

“I can’t thank you enough to taking care of Renjun tonight-”

“What?” Haseul immediately hisses. _Renjun? Me?_

Vivi looks alarmed and Haseul instantly feels like dog poop. “Yeah, Sooyoung said you’d be-”

The familiar subway chime interrupts Vivi. “Arriving at 42nd Street. Please stand clear…”

“Oh dear. I gotta go. Just check your messages Haseul. Nice bumping into you, haha literally, but um, see you later!”

Vivi disappears into the mob of people getting off before Haseul can say ‘good-bye’ and ‘take care’.

_What the fudge._

Work, as always, was mind-numbing. Lucas messed up something again and of course, Haseul had to fix everything. She had to spoon-feed a nearly-dead Taeyong again while shovelling down her own lunch in five minutes. It was quite hypocritical of her, but there was no time. Her hands had to be doing something, typing, writing or moving. Her throat was dry from talking so much, but Haseul thinks that’s the only way to do it. Haseul loves it. It distracts her while making her feel productive.

Plus, the new box of products for Haseul to sample accompanied by a long thank-you note was a nice bonus. She felt accomplished and could temporarily ignore the growing dread of going back to her empty apartment with nothing to do.

She heaves the box and walks to the front of her building, giving aimless goodbyes along the way.

“Get in loser, we’re going to Vivi’s.”

Haseul screams and drops the cold, heavy box on her foot. She curses under her breath and looks up to see Sooyoung, dressed far too lavishly in her work clothes, in front of her Lamborghini.

“Sooyoung what the heck?”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes and smirks. She impatiently taps at her Apple Watch. “Somehow I have let my wife get involved in your trivial affairs and somehow I too am invested. Haseul Jo, the most vanilla person on the face on the earth, a _homewrecker_.”

Reluctantly and still puzzled, Haseul picks up her box and lets herself into Sooyoung’s car, not wanting to anger the woman. She is _scary_.

“Sooyoung I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sooyoung lets out a judgemental _tsk_ as she starts the engine. “Did you not check your phone? Jiwoo was right about you being married to your work.”

Haseul ignores the second phrase and checks her text messages with Sooyoung. She first saves Vivi’s number the moment she sees it and is stunned to read the following “Apartment Pin Code”. Neither Sooyoung nor Haseul are close enough to know that information, but then she clicks on a link and it’s a Google Doc titled “Guide to Taking Care of Renjun Huang”.

_Oh. That makes sense._

The morning’s event, which felt like a fever dream from long ago, floods back to her.

“Sooyoung you barnacle.”

“Nah. Jiwoo’s the one who did the dirty work. I just set everything up.”

Haseul groans. “Her kid is scary.”

Sooyoung dramatically gasps. “Haseul? Scared of a kid? Nevermind, that's not that surprising, but Vivi Wong's kid?”

Haseul groans again. “He called me a hag when we first met.”

Sooyoung barks with laughter. “God. I respect Vivi even more now. I got to ask to meet her kid when I see her again.”

Haseul quirks an eyebrow. "How do you even know Vivi?”

“Connections, luv.” Sooyoung winks at the rearview camera for Haseul to see and Haseul’s face pinches inwards. _Disgusting_.

“God I hate you.”

“You pronounced ‘thank you’ wrong but your very welcome darling.”

Sooyoung deemed useless when it came to information about Vivi. She showed up to some of her company’s huge parties and like most people, she came from a complicated line of “friends of friends” (Haseul stopped listening after “step son’s”). They were also mutuals on every social networking system and Haseul gladly accepted Sooyoung’s offer of giving her Vivi’s usernames. Sooyoung also made sure to clearly express her support of Haseul’s new homewrecking status (it honestly made Haseul feel worse).

Now, as Haseul sits on Vivi’s (very soft) couch, she feels very ashamed and alien, but what else can she do? Vivi relied on her to take care of her literal _baby_.

She leans back and stares at her surroundings. It is very...Vivi, neat and minimalist, but still homey and cosy. Haseul firmly believes that Vivi has a Pinterest board that she followed religiously for all her home decor needs. A couple of stray toys litter the place, probably on Renjun’s behalf, but it made everything even more domestic. Haseul’s heart strains in both adoration and jealousy.

It’s honestly sickening.

The house is filled with pictures, but Haseul can’t find a single picture frame with three people in it. Well, there are ones with three, but it’s always Renjun with an elderly couple. The ones with four have the same elderly couple. Haseul vividly remembers a lovely picture of Renjun in Vivi’s lap, blowing out four birthday candles, while two elderly people clapped at either side of the duo. Probably grandparents.

Even odder, Vivi’s apartment is smaller than Haseul’s and much less luxurious, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it seems as if it was just Vivi and Renjun living on their own.

There isn’t even a single wedding photo. Both Sooyoung and Chuu and Jinsol and Jungeun proudly hang a huge wedding portrait in their living rooms, but perhaps Vivi was understandably more private about such things. Haseul has to come to terms with her homewrecking status some day or another and finding excuses was doing nothing to help.

Haseul groans and wants to cry, but doesn’t when she hears the distinctive unlocking of the apartment door and shuffling of feet.

“Hey, kiddo! How was school? Learned the colours of the rainbow yet?”

Renjun looks furious and Haseul is a tiny bit ~~very~~ scared. “Where’s Sicheng- _shu shu_?”

Haseul vaguely remembers the name from this morning in Vivi’s phone call. She’s also grateful she took Chinese I in high school, or else she’d think Renjun was cussing her out in a foreign language instead of saying ‘uncle’. Renjun’s power is scary.

“Hm. Can’t make it.”

“Not even Kun- _ye ye_? That old geezer does nothing.”

Haseul chuckled. At least she isn’t the only adult Renjun sassed. “I don’t know. Something happened.”

Renjun takes off his shoes in the most aggressive way Haseul has ever seen and slams them down next to Haseul’s booties.

“You probably did something to Sicheng- _shu shu_ and Kun- _ye ye_ so you could hang out with my mom.”

Haseul is flabbergasted because technically, he isn’t wrong. Before she can properly form a response, she gets hit in the face by a pair of mint green house slippers. _Huh_ , green was her favourite colour, so she’s kinda touched.

“Hey, Renjun! That was kinda-”

Renjun angrily storms across the living room, wearing his own pair of tiny yellow slippers and violently picking up the stray toys and dumping them into a big container near the corner. “Wear them. Mom doesn’t like it when the house is untidy. We don’t need your stinky foot fungus all over these nice floors Mom worked so hard for.”

Haseul almost-kisses Renjun on the cheek. Renjun was just a cute little _tsundere_ that cares for his mom underneath that intimidating getup. It’s endearing as heck.

“Also, the rainbow is baby stuff.”

_Says the baby._

“Your favourite colour is probably green. G-R-E-E-N. It’s the worst colour on the rainbow, the colour of throw up, and it suits you perfectly _ben dan_.”

Haseul looks down at her green slippers and wants to throw something at Renjun but remembers that Renjun is _four_ and she’s _twenty-seven_ and should have more dignity, but green was her favourite colour and Chinese I didn’t cover what _ben dan_ meant, but it had to have been a no-no word.

In an attempt to make peace, Haseul tries to say nicely (even though the vein in her forehead is twitching), “You’re pretty smart for a four-year-old, knowing some pretty big words. Who’s teaching you these words? It can’t be your mom right?”

It’s not an insult towards Vivi; Haseul would rather die than insult Vivi, but Renjun seems to take it as an offence towards his dear mother.

“Everything my mom does is good! Her favourite colour is pink. P-I-N-K and it’s the best colour ever, unlike green. You suck! Mommy is the best and doesn’t deserve you. _Cao ni ma. Wo de ma ma shi zui bang de!_ ”

Haseul can’t argue with Renjun there, even if she has no idea what he later said.

It’s somewhat peaceful after that. Renjun glares at Haseul intensely some more. It makes responding to emails harder, but Haseul is grateful nevertheless. She doesn’t want anything else thrown at her.

But everyone has a breaking point. Haseul’s ego was a tiny bit hurt since Renjun is the only child she has ever met who doesn’t like her. Her “Good with Kids” and “Mom Friend” label was falling apart, and Haseul did not appreciate that.

She breezes through the Google Doc Sooyoung sent her, not really paying attention to the words, until she finds it.

_Renjunie is very weak to ice cream, but don’t give him…_

_Bingo._

Haseul makes her way to Vivi’s freezer, carefully tip-toeing past Renjun, who was reading a real book near his containers of toys.

 _This kid’s four and reading for fun. Disgusting._ That also explained why he was so smart though.

“You better not be stealing from us hag.”

_Oh no. I am far from doing that._

She finds the box of frozen treats and dramatically exaggerates her heave as she lifts the box, making sure the Joy & Yeri logo was in full display for Renjun to see. That catches his attention for sure because Renjun is now not-so-secretly looking at Haseul from behind his book.

“Wow, working in advertising is just soooo hard. You’ll end up befriending the CEOs of Joy & Yeri’s who now send you copious amounts of free frozen treats. I believe this time they wanted me to test out some new flavours and send them feedback soon. Man, that’s just so much work. Too bad no big, strong knight will help me.”

Haseul waits for the right time to look down. She hears the tell-tale pitter-patter of slippers and then hears them stop. She looks down to see Renjun looking at her with big, brown, innocent eyes (so much like Vivi’s), but his mouth is still in an angry pout.

“Mom says I should always help people and be a good gentleman. I don’t actually like you or anything. I’m just a good person.”

_Ha. Good person._

Even if Renjun is a little Devil, Vivi is an amazing mother, and Haseul coos at Renjun’s affection towards her, much to Renjun’s dismay.

“Hey stop that! I’m just being nice.”

Haseul begins walking back towards the sofa. Haseul notes to be careful to not stain. She’s extremely thankful for the Tide pen she carries around in her work bag that’s resting on the coffee table. She kicks the bag off the coffee table, mindful of her laptop inside it, and sets down the box. She reminds herself to write an extra nice email to Joy or Yeri since she’d now need more “appreciation boxes”.

(At least she hopes.)

She opens the box and Renjun gets on tiptoes to look inside. Haseul smirks when she sees Renjun’s eyes lighting up and drool nearly coming out of his mouth. He whispers a quiet “Woah” that isn’t missed by Haseul.

She rips off the lengthy letter on the side of the box. She wasn’t exaggerating to Renjun. After reading through Yeri’s hyper “thank you!”s and Joy’s sincere “appreciate it”s, Joy left a list of future flavours they were considering releasing and their descriptions and asked for her feedback. Haseul and her sensitive teeth and stomach didn’t look forward to trying out a huge box of ice cream, but now she had a child next to her. She pulled out her laptop and created a spreadsheet, Renjun’s fiery stare on her every moment. She really shouldn’t feel like she was getting supervised.

“What are you doing?”

“Work.”

“That’s your work? Mommy’s out here breaking her back but you’re trying out Joy & Yeri products. Tsk.”

Haseul laughs (in both pain and joy) but decides to save Renjun the misery that usually occurred in Haseul’s work life. “Kinda.”

Renjun’s eyebrows pinch in (he looked so much like Vivi what the heck), obviously not satisfied with that answer.

Haseul shrugs. “I have to write a lot too, but probably not as much as your mom. I do lots of other things, including trying out these sweets before they melt.”

Renjun nods vigorously. _Oh my god, he’s taking me seriously._

“Let’s get started, Haseul- _nai nai_.”

_Nai nai: most commonly used term for paternal grandmother (specifically on your dad's side). Used in China to address female elders._

Haseul gives an irritated smile, but at least Renjun acknowledged her by her name, instead of hag.

……..

“Dark chocolate is gross! It’s the mushrooms of the candy world.”

“You’re just young and stup- erm dumb with twice as many tastebuds as me!”

“What’s a tastebud?”

“Exactly. Young and dumb. I am putting on my spreadsheet that Dark Chocolate Delight is an amazing ice cream flavour and my new favourite.”

“NO. I _REFUSE_ to let my favourite ice cream brand release something so gross.”

“Oh, hush. Children aren’t the only people who get to eat Joy & Yeri’s. Grown-ups LOVE dark chocolate.”

“Mommy says grown-ups don’t eat sweets as much-”

“Your mommy only says that so you don’t eat too many sweets in-”

“What’s that about me?”

Vivi stands in the doorway. Her posture suggests anger, but her amused smile says otherwise. She also looks exhausted. Haseul looks at a clock. 7:47 PM. Haseul wasn’t supposed to stay that long, but she wasn’t mad about it. She also just had a lot of ice cream as dinner while arguing (and possibly bonding) with a four-year-old. She wasn’t mad about that either.

“MOMMY!” Renjun shrills and runs to tackle Vivi. Vivi laughs and lifts to pick up Renjun and twirl him in a circle (Renjun seemed to enjoy it greatly, Haseul notes). Haseul can’t help but smile fondly. Also, _wow_ Vivi’s stronger than she looks.

Vivi sets him down. “Have you been good for Haseul- _ai yi_?”

Renjun freezes and looks up innocently. _That brat._ “Of course! I really missed you, Mommy!”

Vivi ruffles his hair and looks at Haseul. She holds no visible injury and meekly gives a thumbs-up. Vivi sighs in relief. “I missed you too _bao bei_. Well. It’s late and I don’t think either of you have eaten any real food. Renjunie, set the table for our guest?”

Vivi eyes Haseul and she understands the question they hold. _Stay for dinner?_

Haseul giggles and nods. _How can I say no?_

They stare at each other after that. Vivi had to have caught on. No platonic friend does that, nor do they do it that often. Haseul can’t be imagining it.

Vivi breaks the tension and plops down next to Haseul on the coach. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t think it’d be this late. My hours, they’re so unsteady and I can’t help but feel awful.”

 _Hah_. Haseul’s the real one feels awful. “Nono. I didn’t mind. Renjun can be...sweet.”

Vivi looks at Haseul, her eyes filled with relief and affection. _Not this again._ “Yea?”

Haseul giddily smiles. “Yea.”

They stare at each other, again, and Haseul almost considers stealing a kiss before she feels bile up her throat. The sound of Renjun retching in the kitchen makes it worse.

_So I’m not the only one who’s lactose intolerant._

After dumping her guts out into Vivi’s toilet, Renjun likewise next to her with his face nearly buried into the trash can, they make their way into the kitchen. Haseul’s very glad that she cut her hair into a bob this year.

Vivi is idly leaning onto the counter with one hand and using the other to ladle some white liquid from a pressure cooker into three bowls. She’s out of her work clothes and is wearing simple pink pyjamas. It’s obvious that she just showered, and Haseul desperately wants to hug her from behind and inhale whatever soap she used.

The clock now read 8:54 PM, still no signs of someone else coming home. _Maybe he’s in the military, or on a business trip, how honourable._

“Renjunie, get the extra chair will you.”

“Yes, Mommy!” Renjun runs off somewhere and then it’s just Vivi and Haseul. Haseul really can’t endure another staring contest right now.

She looks at the wooden table, one of its shorter edges against the wall. Only two chairs are tucked neatly underneath it, one at the head (Vivi, proven by the pink apron draped across it) and one at one of the other the longer edges of the table (Renjun, proved by the silly cushion on its seat to boost his height). Renjun, also stronger than he looked, is carefully dragging a matching chair across the floor. Thick mismatched socks (probably Renjun’s) are wrapped around the legs to keep it from scratching the floor. Haseul notices that all the kitchen chairs are adorned similarly. It’s super cute.

Vivi sets down the three bowls and fills three mugs with a steaming liquid before they too join the table. Vivi and Renjun take their seat, and Haseul doesn’t quite want to join. It feels too domestic, and she feels like she’s intruding.

“Haseul, why aren’t you joining us?”

“Yea _nai n_ \- Haseul. Mommy worked hard to make this so be grateful.” Vivi chuckles.

Haseul hesitantly takes her seat across Renjun, who _sparkles_ at her (it’s suspicious). She looks down at her bowl and her emptied stomach growls (she hopes no one heard). It’s wonderful. It smells like vegetable stock with a hint of ginger. It’s congee with colourful vegetables and sliced chicken peeking out from under the rice. Her mug of tea smells strongly of peppermint and a sliced lemon floats on top.

“Haseul, you know, I wanted to impress you with my amazing cooking but _some_ people just had to eat too much ice cream so I could only make basic sick people food.”

Both Haseul and Renjun choke on their congee (which is as good as it looked and smelled). “Sorry,” they both grumble to Vivi’s amusement.

Haseul thinks about Vivi’s words a little bit more. Everything about the woman was a mixed-signal. “This is basic to your Vivi? I hope you never taste my bland cooking. I need this congee recipe. I can only make basic congee and kimchi congee, and the kimchi has to come from my mom, nothing like this.”

Vivi becomes shy, the teasing behind her voice gone. “It’s not that hard. I could probably teach you someday.”

Haseul raises her eyebrows. _She wants me back._

Renjun drops his spoon in his bowl in excitement. “Mommy you have to let Haseul try some of your better dishes first! We should have a hotpot together, like before.”

 _Like before._ Haseul isn’t the only one pondering those words because Vivi’s gaze is long and distant.

“Yea. That sounds good Renjunie.” Vivi softly murmurs.

They eat in silence for a while. Haseul wouldn’t say it’s awkward, but it’s not comfortable either. Renjun is impacted by this...tension and sheepishly giggled, “Haseul- _nai nai_ my throw up wasn’t green today.”

Conversation flows easily from there.

When it’s 9:30 PM, Vivi is rushing Renjun to bed and Haseul is starting to do the dishes. She has a dishwasher, but not enough dishes for it to be of actual use.

“Oh, Haseul you really don’t have to.”

Haseul grins. “I wanted to. Thank you so much for dinner. It was nice.”

Vivi is bashful. “Thank you for staying, but it wasn’t much.” Vivi reaches behind Haseul to grab a towel. “You wash I’ll dry.”

“Ok.”

“Renjun likes you.”

Haseul drops a plate, water splashes everywhere.

“Seriously! He rarely opens up so quickly.”

“Oh please, I just gave him a ton of ice cream.”

Vivi laughs. “You’re not the first. It’s an easy tactic to get kids to like you. Sicheng was the one who got him hooked onto ice cream anyway. I love Sicheng to bits but every time he’s over they both end up fighting and puking. Hyunjin always brings ice cream over as well, but she’s not as ice cream obsessed. They both had ice cream on the first day, but Renjun ignored them the whole time. I don’t know how you did it, but thank you.”

Haseul nods and quickly blurts, “Thank you,” before she accidentally confesses her feelings.

“But you know, I’d really appreciate it if more people took the time to read the entire guide I made.”

Haseul squawks. “I was, I don’t know, tired, but I tried!”

Vivi laughs. “You know, I’ve never seen him share ice cream with someone other than me...” Vivi looks like she wants to say something else but doesn’t.

Haseul doesn’t press further. _What if Renjun’s dad is...dead_ , dread fills her stomach, so she opts to change the topic. “Renjun’s really smart.”

Vivi looks horrified. “He didn’t cuss you out in Chinese or anything, right?”

Haseul focuses on washing a mug. “Hm… can’t really answer that. I only took Chinese I.”

Vivi sighs. “I’m really sorry. Sicheng has been teaching him _colourful_ words. He’s so smart; He can teach him anything but he does that instead. I honestly wrote the guide for him. He’s been corrupting Renjun. Please don’t teach him anymore cuss words in any language.”

Haseul laughs. “Don’t worry I don’t cuss.”

Vivi looks relieved. They’ve only interacted three times, but Haseul wants to protect her forever.

Haseul’s proud that out of the sitters Vivi has mentioned, she might be the best (except for maybe Kun, whoever that was).

They work in a quiet steady rhythm after that. It’s so _domestic_.

And it’s now or never.

“Hey, Vivi?”

Vivi hums as she reaches to put the last plate in the cabinet.

“Does Renjun have another parent present?”

Vivi freezes and leans against the counter. _Fiddlesticks._

“Sorry, that was-”

“No. No. You deserve to know. It was bound to come out sooner or later. Renjun has, well had, a dad, nothing too atypical but it had such a big impact on Ren- both of us. Sometimes, I just wonder, if I wasn’t good-”

Haseul doesn’t want to hear the end of that sentence come out of Vivi’s mouth. “You are good enough. It’s his loss.”

Was that too strong? But if Vivi disliked her words, she didn't show it. She showed quite the opposite, blushing like a schoolgirl, so Haseul continues. She's babbling, but she couldn't care less.

"You're amazing Vivi. I know we’ve met three times, two of those times were rushed, but I feel like I’ve known you forever, and I just know that you’re amazing. You're so...capable and hardworking. Renjun is really lucky to have a mom like you."

Vivi's eyes shine. _Do you really think so?_

Haseul nods and pats Vivi's head. _Of course._

They allow themselves to lose themselves into each other's eyes, free from any distractions. They break away at the same time and laugh. Haseul is screwed.

"It's getting late. Sooyoung took you here right?"

Haseul knew what she was implying. "She did, but your apartment isn't far from-"

"I don't want you walking alone so late at night. You seemed to like my couch."

Haseul chuckles. "I do."

"Then what's the problem?"

 _I have a mega fat crush on you and staying over is going to intensify that._ Haseul can’t find the energy to fight, however. "At least let me take Renjun to school. His school starts drop-off at eight, doesn’t it? Work starts at nine for me so it’s perfect."

Haseul peaked at the bell schedule inside Renjun's backpack when he wasn't looking.

Vivi's face, so honest, only shows gratitude and shock. Haseul likes how genuine she is. "Thank you...Johnny just texted me that I had to be there early tomorrow as well and Hyunjin, who usually takes him, is oddly busy tomorrow morning. _Weird_. All of Renjun’s sitters are suddenly busy. You’re a godsend."

Haseul wonders what Sooyoung and Jiwoo did and isn’t sure whether she should hug or punch them the next time she sees them. "We should both head to sleep then, right?"

Vivi giggles, "Yea."

Vivi lays out pyjamas and insists on lending her clothes for tomorrow ("We're the exact same size! It'd be embarrassing if you showed up to work with the same clothes as today." Untrue. Haseul had done that plenty of times, but she accepts anyways). She's sprawled across Vivi's white couch that thankfully got no stains, and closes her eyes. Sleep isn’t going to come easy to her and questions flood her mind, but at least she wasn’t a homewrecker.

When she wakes, it’s to her joints crying and the smell of coffee and toast. It couldn’t be Vivi...she had to leave already and if Renjun knew how to work a stove, Haseul was going to leave this instant.

She sits up and it becomes clear. There’s a plate with an egg in a hole, little pieces of ham making a smiley-face on top of the egg, and a cup of coffee, various creamers and a jar of sugar by its side, on the coffee table. A tiny pink sticky note accompanies the small breakfast, Vivi’s pretty handwriting becomes more and more sloppy as it nears the end.

 _Haseul~ I hope you slept ok._ Haseul’s joints stop crying for a moment.

_Renjunie’s school address and the routes you can take is somewhere in that Google Doc. His breakfast is on the table (and I hope you like yours ;p). Take care at work! Call me if anything happens._

Haseul wants to cry at how Vivi took the time to write a note when she could’ve texted her. She takes a bite out of her toast and she thinks she has never felt so loved before.

Renjun awakens a little later. Like yesterday, he is just as aggressive when he tidies up the plates (he even takes Haseul’s because “you don’t deserve to touch Mommy’s plates”) and prepares to go to school. His backpack is almost bigger than him and only holds a single binder. Haseul laughs and coos at the display but stops when Renjun calls her a “hag” and points out her joints cracking every time she moves.

Haseul’s workplace and Renjun’s school are conveniently on the same subway route and they’re earlier than the morning rush, so Renjun purposely sits with his bookbag between them on the subway and reads the whole time ( _nerd_ ) instead of paying attention to Haseul’s poor attempt at slapstick comedy and small talk. Haseul gets a lot of weird looks, but she thinks it’s worth it because Renjun bites down on his lip to stop his laughter occasionally.

Apparently, Renjun has a friend from school (Jeno, who’s a lot nicer than Renjun and _guffaws_ at her jokes) whose parent (Jaehyun, who’s also nice and shares Haseul’s interest in comedy) walks them to school, so Haseul doesn’t have to walk Renjun to school, even though she does kinda want to hold Renjun’s hand and see him safe to a classroom.

At work, Lucas says Haseul is “livelier than usual” when she finishes correcting his proposal. She doesn’t quite understand his words until she _does_ feel lively when she finds a stainless steel container containing a replica of a Pinterest lunch idea she saw a while ago in her messenger bag. Another pink sticky note with 'thank you so much for yesterday' scrawled across it is attached ontop. Of course, she shows it off to Taeyong, who finally smiles since a long, long time. “I’m glad you found someone nice, Haseul.”

She’s glad too and wonders if it was wrong of her to be.

When she gets home, her apartment, even though there was still no one else in it, feels less empty.

This... _routine_ continues. Haseul went to return Vivi’s clothes and container and she left as Renjun’s priority babysitter and one of his emergency contacts. Haseul watches over Renjun some afternoons—she even picks him up from school occasionally—and takes him to school some mornings. She gets so close to the little family that she gets invited to non-babysitting related outings (Vivi says Renjun requests her presence, but he doesn’t want her to know that). To Renjun’s delight, they eat a lot of hotpot and go to the park often. And to Haseul’s delight, she gets closer to Renjun and more importantly, his mom. It’s mostly platonic, but there’s still some subtle flirting and eye sex. Haseul also gets called to the front desk regularly. The receptionist always hands her some container with an Instagram worthy dish inside of it with a pink sticky note. Haseul tries not to think too much of it, even though she nearly swooned every time, and brushes the behaviour off as gratitude (Jiwoo and Sooyoung hate her, but Haseul just doesn’t want to get her hopes too high because she’s a coward).

She had grown to be attached and protective to both of them.

This week is especially bad. Vivi is strapped to her job due to some extensive reporting she has to. For the past few days, Haseul, who only slept over that one time, is fast asleep on the couch when Vivi tiptoes in at midnight. Her joints hurt, but she doesn’t care. The thought of someone else in her position made her stomach churn anyway.

“Woahh, is that _ba bao fan_?” Lucas towers over Haseul and steals a slice, “Damn. It rivals my mom’s.”

“Hey! Who said you could take one?”

“As if you’re not swimming in Pink Sticky’s goods. You got brownies and stuff yesterday! They’ve been getting more frequent.”

Haseul shrugs and presses the elevator button. “She says she always has extra. I’ve been sitting her kid more often as well.” Haseul is reminded that she’s sitting Renjun today. Haseul wishes she could do something more for Vivi. Haseul feels bad for accepting Vivi’s treats that must’ve took a lot of time, but Vivi said it helped her with the stress and that sitting Renjun was enough. One day, when it will be appropriate, Haseul will take her out for lunch.

Haseul turns to look at Lucas who looks incredibly stupid with his mouth wide open (if only Renjun saw).

“KID?!” Haseul’s ears hurt. She remembers that she has told Lucas nothing about Vivi and knows how bad it seems.

“Ah! She, Vivi, she’s divorced and-”

Lucas “ _ooh_ ”s loudly and Haseul turns red.

“It’s not like that. I don’t even know if she likes girls, nevertheless me.”

The elevator bell dings and they walk out together.

“Well, it’s about time anyway Haseul.”

Haseul shrugs it off.

Haseul is proud, boastful even, with her significant progress with Renjun. He still calls her _nai nai_ , but it’s almost affectionate now.

“Haseul- _nai nai_.”

Haseul drops her phone in surprise. Renjun never spoke to her in that soft, gentle, respectable tone he only sees him use around Vivi. And right now, he also looks soft, gentle, and respectable. It’s adorable, but kinda creepy because Renjun could be plotting her murder.

“What’s up?”

Renjun _blushes_ and _stutters_ , holding up a notebook. “Can, can you help me with my math homework.” Haseul doesn’t understand the next part he says, but it’s probably something along the lines of “I don’t actually need it.”

Haseul coos and Renjun kicks her shin but lets her pick him up onto the couch. Haseul stares at the notebook. Neatly printed addition and subtraction problems alongside messy scribbles and eraser marks adorn the paper.

_Math. I don’t remember doing math until first grade._

Luckily, Haseul still remembers how to do single-digit math. Renjun learns quickly (too quickly), especially when he could throw the coins Haseul was using as a demonstration at her.

“Okay, last problem,” _thank god_ , “I have ten dimes-”

“Those are quarters. Mommy uses them for parking meters.”

Haseul's eye twitches. “I, uh, just testing. I knew that-”

“No. You didn’t.”

Haseul ignores him. “I take away three. How many dim- quarters do I have left.”

Renjun picks up three quarters and throws them _hard_ one at a time at Haseul’s forehead. Haseul does not want to explain to Lucas why she had a circular welt on her forehead the next day, nor does she want to explain to a psychiatrist why she gets scared whenever she hears coins clattering on the floor.

Renjun smiles innocently, “Seven!”

Haseul, through grit teeth, manages to get her “Good job” out. She wonders if Renjun faked not knowing how to do math just to abuse Haseul. She looks at Renjun who hums contently as he closes the notebook.

 _How dare he look so happy._ Haseul grabs Renjun into her lap, holding him into place as she begins to tickle him while screaming “Tickle Monster!” She's a little bit tired of getting humiliated by a preschooler, but hearing Renjun’s laughs and shrieks were _so_ worth it (she also didn’t care much about the humiliation; she delt with worse before).

“Has- AH STOP. Miss Haseul stop! I’LL LET YOU CALL ME RENJUNIE.”

Haseul’s a little surprised and overjoyed to hear that. _That’s all it took?_ She stops tickling him. “Really?”

Renjun giggles. “You’re the one that wanted it, dumbass.”

Haseul nearly faints at the _big_ no-no word, but can’t find the proper words to reprimand him. She tries, but sounds very stupid, as shown by Renjun’s growing evil smirk.

No four year old should be able to do that.

They settle in a comfortable silence as Renjun tries to catch his breath and Haseul thinks of ways to control Renjun’s potty mouth. When she thinks of a new scolding, Renjun looks sad and distant and he’s staring at her. She _really_ wants that evil smirk back.

“What’s wron-”

“You’re a lot like my dad...before everything.”

Haseul is dumbfounded. She’s not exactly sure how to take in the new information, but she thinks she understands Renjun more: his hostility towards her, his protectiveness of Vivi, and his odd maturity. Tears start prickling Renjun’s eyes and the sight itself makes Haseul want to cry as well. She’s not exactly sure what happened, but she wants no harm to ever come to Renjun, and Vivi, again. Renjun’s still in her lap. He lets Haseul wrap her arms around him and leans his back against her. Haseul briefly wonders if Renjun is touch starved as well.

“Renjun-”

His head is dipped low and Haseul hears sniffles and then sobs. Her heart shatters. “It’s not a bad thing, Haseul.”

 _Haseul._ Renjun looks up, and Haseul tries not to cry at the sight.

Renjun is so quiet that Haseul barely hears him. “You won’t leave Mommy right?”

“ _What_? Of course not. Oh my gosh no. Your mom doesn’t even like me like-”

“No. You guys do that gross eye thing a lot. She’s always so happy whenever I talk about you. I don’t know...it’s a different kind of happy than the type she shows around Kun, Sicheng, and Hyunjin. She also never makes extra. She spent three days perfecting that _ba bao fan_. She only did that with Dad.”

_Oh. Okay then._

Haseul slowly processes the information. She even wonders if she’s dreaming.

“Haseul...you won’t leave me too, right?”

Haseul gasps. She doesn’t think Renjun asked his other sitters this. “Renjun. Of course, I won’t leave you. Why would I?”

“He did…”

Haseul shakes her head. She’s reminded of the conversation she had with Vivi. “Well, that’s his loss. You’re a little twerp, but you’re super amazing. You’re four, but you still manage to scare me. If I ever see him I’ll punch him real good but also thank him because now I get to see you grow up and it’s the most beautiful thing ever. Also, I’m not him. I don’t think I have a… thingie between my legs.”

Renjun laughs and Haseul can’t stop her smile. There’s a pause and then Renjun meekly asks, “Do you like Mommy like that?”

Haseul opens and closes her mouth.

“You look like a fish.”

Haseul laughs. She _really_ likes Renjun. “Caught me there, both times.”

“Called it.” Haseul gives a lopsided grin. It’s not like she put that much effort into hiding her crush.

Haseul strokes Renjun’s hair. She can almost see the little gears turning in his head.

Renjun whispers in a voice so small that Haseul almost misses it. “You won’t take Mommy from me?”

Haseul nearly laughs at the audacity of the question. “I understand why you’d think I’d leave you, but your mom? You of all people should know how amazing she is and she’d _never_ leave you, her precious chil- _bao bei_ for an old hag like me.”

Renjun nods and grins. “Yea. Mommy is amazing. But you’re not actually a hag, and you’re, you’re, pretty kn-n-nice yourself.”

This time, Haseul starts crying and feels her heart expand. “Renjunieeee did you just-”

“Oh, but you said _bao bei_ wrong. Took me a bit to realize what you were trying to say.”

They both laugh at that, and Haseul playfully whacks Renjun’s head (only for Renjun to punch her in the stomach, hard).

As a peace offering, Haseul manoeuvres around Renjun to dig out her laptop and fold it into a tablet. “Wanna watch Moomin?”

Renjun looks as confused as he did when Haseul first tried to explain subtraction to him. “Huh?”

“You don’t know what Moomin is?” _Kids these days!_ She hurriedly finds the first episode of “Adventures from Moomin Valley”. She leans down until she’s comfortably stretched across the couch and holds the computer tablet above her face. Renjun follows suit so that he’s on his side, sandwiched between Haseul and the back pillows.

After so much crying, talking, and laughing (Haseul had a long day at work too and Renjun probably got into another fistfight at school as well) with the combination of Moomin, the purest show in existence, their eyes begin to droop. Renjun quietly murmurs “hag” when Haseul’s arms start struggling but when Haseul turns to look, he’s already spooned comfortably against Haseul, drool adding to the disgusting mixture of fluids he already made on her shirt. Haseul smiles and sets her laptop on the coffee table before turning to cuddle Renjun back and closing her eyes.

She groans when she hears something hit the ground. _Intruder?_ When she forces her eyes open, still unsure whether she was still dreaming or not, she meets an embarrassed Vivi, still dressed for work, peering over her, hair nearly ticking her nose, fumbling with her phone. _Oh. No Intruder. Just Vivi. Good._

“Vivi, you’re cute.” She grumbles.

Vivi softly laughs and looks away. Haseul blinks away the sleep and notices that her arm is numb and _hot_.

 _Oh right._ A tiny furnace is still pressed against her. She shouldn’t be surprised about his unnatural body heat considering that he’s a child (Why are all children so warm?) that crawled from hell.

Well, Haseul isn’t sure if she can call Renjun a hellspawn anymore when the earlier events hit her (he also looks like an angel when he’s asleep) .

_Oh._

She’s not sure what to tell Vivi. _Hey, Vivi your son just had a breakdown and shared a lot of things I don’t think I’m supposed to know including the fact that you may like me too._

Vivi gracefully swoops up Renjun. “Haseul, go sleep in my bed.”

 _That_ did not help Haseul’s situation at all. “What? Vivi I can’t do that.”

“It’s fine. Renjun says you wake up sore whenever you sleep on my couch. My bed has better support.”

“Huh? Renjun said what?” Haseul remembers Renjun calling her an “old, incapable hag with a crippling body” this morning on the subway when she started cracking her joints. _He does care about me that little tsundere!_ Haseul is so touched.

Vivi laughs. “Yep, he warmed up to you!”

Haseul smiles like a fool. “I still can’t take your bed.”

“Oh, it’s fine! I’ll just take your place on the couch.”

Haseul’s guilt from Vivi’s kindness when she too was obviously tired returns. “No, you can’t do that! You’ll get sore too.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like we have a lot of choices and I’m _not_ letting you sleep on this coach again.” Vivi firmly states.

Haseul’s stupid mouth and need to make Vivi happy works faster than her brain. “We can both sleep in your bed.”

Vivi stops rubbing circles on Renjun’s little back.

 _Shish kabobs._ It’d be fine though. Vivi will reject like a normal-

“Okay. Let me put Renjun down first. You should probably wash up. You can use the master bathroom.” Vivi makes her way towards Renjun’s room before Haseul can tell her how bad of an idea that was.

Haseul concludes that she’d still be laying in Vivi’s room, on Vivi’s bed, listening to Vivi _shower_ a door away (and not being a pervert in any shape or form), even if she was able to object Vivi a few minutes ago because she was weak. So very weak for Vivi, and knowing that she too may return her feelings made her putty.

Haseul tenses at the sound of the door clicking open. No breathing exercise works to calm her racing heart. It only ran faster when Vivi gets closer and she completely stops breathing when Vivi settles right next to Haseul. She only takes a sharp inhale when Vivi sidles up to Haseul until she's flush against Haseul, spooning her in a way that reminds Vivi of Renjun.

Expect she isn’t Renjun. Renjun isn’t a five foot three loveable news anchor/caster/reporter/something that smells like everything nice and feels so warm and soft. Renjun doesn’t give Haseul concerning heart palpitations. Renjun doesn’t make every single nerve jump to make Haseul hyper-aware that _holy cow the woman I have a crush on is touching me and I am very touch starved and **I don’t know what to do**._

“Hey Haseul, I like you.”

And Renjun _definitely_ didn’t do that. Haseul, being the idiot she is, jokes because she genuinely doesn’t know how to react in any other proper way. “Take me to dinner first won’t ya?”

Vivi wacks Haseul’s arm. “Oh please. I’ve cooked for you so many times.”

Haseul hums, but still feels the intensity of Vivi’s gaze, yearning for more.

“I like you too.”

Vivi giggles in the same evil way that reminds her of Renjun. “I know. You’re really slow. I feel like you knew that I liked you too. Your heart is also beating super fast by the way.”

This woman was going to be the end of her.

Vivi tightens her hold on Haseul. “It was a divorce, year and a half ago. He was my high school sweetheart.” Vivi laughs. “Those never work out. I lost feeling for him a while ago honestly and he did too. I didn’t know either of course, but we had Renjun in hopes of...fixing it, I guess. I think he thought it was going to be like a Pampers commercial and it wasn’t, so then he left. Cheated on me. Don’t know what he’s doing now.”

Haseul thinks about when she first thought Vivi had a picture-perfect family. And then she thinks about Renjun and Vivi, and how both of them seemed to stupidly wonder if they were good enough. Her respect for both of them grows and her disdain towards this unknown man also grows.

“F-f-fuck. I really don't like this guy, but I really, really like you, Vivi, and I promise to cherish you forever.”

Haseul can feel Vivi’s laugh. “You warmed up to Renjun as well.”

“You’re not wrong.”

Vivi hums. “Hey Haseul, wait for me okay? Just...wait, give me some time for me. You were right in being slow.”

Haseul thinks she understands what Vivi means. “Of course.”

“But don’t pity me.”

Haseul scoffs. In reality, she thinks Vivi is the strongest person in the world. “Vivi the last thing I want to do is pity you. You’re so strong for handling that and you’re doing amazing. Just look at Renjun-”

“But-”

“He’s super strong too and he’s going to turn out amazing. Do you know why? It's because of _you_. You’re going to be fine. _We’re_ going to be fine. In fact, you and Renjun make me so happy and sometimes I think I’m unworthy of you-”

“No. Jesus Christ no. If anything I think that about you. You're so dependable and you make me so happy too.”

Haseul smiles. _Finally_. “Me too.”

Vivi giggles, “Ew. Mushy feelings.”

Haseul giggles as well. They listen to each other’s breathing for a while. Haseul thinks she’s on top of the world and it took so much self-restraint for her to not start dancing then and there.

Vivi breaks the silence and calmly says, “Y’know...He was a dick, but I wasn’t that innocent either. Before we got married I cheated on him with Sooyoung’s co-worker’s golf buddy’s uncle’s friend’s step-son’s second cousin’s best friend’s cat sitter’s girlfriend. Heejin. I also dated the cat sitter, Hyunjin, who sits Renjun now and then. You know her. But now Heejin and Hyunjin are dating. Hope you still like me.”

Haseul half coughs half laughs. “Oh. That’s. That’s impressive. I should’ve listened to Sooyoung’s explanation on how you guys knew each other. But yes, yes I still like you and I can’t wait to figure out and treasure very single flaws of yours.”

“God, you’re so cheesy. I hate that I love it. Just wait for me Haseul Jo, just wait.”

Haseul’s cheeks hurt from smiling. When she looks down at Vivi, she’s already asleep, head resting on Haseul’s collarbone.

Haseul wraps her arms Vivi and swears she’ll be the best girlfriend ever.

Vivi and even Haseul, who thinks about kissing Vivi every five seconds, are patient with each other. They start spending more time with each other without Renjun and Haseul stops complaining about having eye sex (even if she does kinda want the real thing now). She wants Vivi to be comfortable, even if she did have to wait 50 years until they got to date.

It’s the little ball of fury that gets impatient.

Haseul is helping Vivi cook dinner and Renjun is doing schoolwork on the kitchen island. The addition of Haseul in the kitchen also means music and Haseul is pleased to know that both Vivi and Renjun are budding pop idols.

The Moomin theme song is playing in the background but gets swallowed by Haseul, Vivi, and Renjun (who’s also the loudest and the only one dancing)’s loud singing. Haseul wants to start a band with them. Haseul pretends to play the accordion in hopes of making Vivi laugh (she does, Haseul starts screaming inwardly).

“Mommy?”

Vivi stops stirring the pot and whips around. “Yes, Renjunie?”

“Can you get me a pair of scissors?” He gestures at the arts and crafts project (it’s a messy drawing of Moomin and what looks like Haseul) he’s making for school.

A week ago, Vivi came home to Renjun and Haseul chasing each other with safety scissors, thus, scissors were hidden somewhere in Vivi’s massive closet and Sicheng watched Renjun all of the following week. In Haseul’s defence, Renjun started it and those dumb flimsy plastic scissors never worked anyway, but that wasn’t good enough of an excuse for Vivi.

Fair enough.

“Okay, watch the pot for me Haseul?”

Haseul nods excitedly, already making her way towards the stove. “Anything for you~”

“Simp.” Renjun whispers, soft enough for the leaving Vivi to not hear, but loud enough for Haseul to hear very clearly.

She has no idea what ‘simp’ means.

“YOUNG MAN. Do not use such language in this household.”

Renjun just giggles maliciously and Haseul shakes her head. She leans over and plants a sloppy, wet kiss on Renjun’s cheek. Renjun flails his little arms at Haseul, so she plants another one on his forehead.

“Ugh. Love you too _nai nai_.”

Haseul is _so_ proud of herself.

“But don’t you wish you were kissing my mom instead.”

Haseul shrieks and the ladle clatters against the pot. “We already talked about this Renjunie. Vivi isn’t ready.”

Renjun tuts. “I think she is. You’re just slow.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Haseul groans. There's no use in arguing with Renjun.

They work in an unnaturally peaceful silence after that, but Haseul is too happy to even care. She’s not even sure why she’s happy. Perhaps it was just because she was in Vivi’s house, cooking, as her... _charming_ son coloured in the background. It felt domestic. It felt _right_ , even if she couldn’t call Vivi her girlfriend...yet.

“Yo _nai nai_.”

“Hm?”

“I need glue.”

“I don’t know where that is.”

“Oh right, you’re stupid.”

“ _Language_.”

Renjun rolls his eyes and slides off of the stool. “Follow me. I know where it is, but I’m not tall enough to get it.”

Haseul follows Renjun. “Hah. Silly kid.”

“Useless adult.”

“I’m not useless!”

“You don’t even know where the glue is!”

“Why would I know?”

“I don’t know!”

Haseul shakes her head and stops walking. She’s in Vivi’s room. Did Vivi also hide the glue in the closet? She _does not_ want to know why. Vivi is also taking an awfully long time. _Weird, weird, weird._

“It’s in the closet.”

“Okie.” Haseul waltzes towards the closet, only for Renjun to kick her into it.

“Have fun _nai nai_ ~”

Haseul slams into something very soft. _Oooh, it’s squishy. Squish squish._

“Haseul?” Haseul looks up. Oh. It’s Vivi, and ohhh she just got kicked right into Vivi’s...heart. And she just heard the door click into a lock. _Oh dear._

Vivi takes no notice. “I can’t find the scissors. Why are you here?”

_“I think she is. You’re just slow.”_

_Screw it._

“Vivi-ie I like you. I know where technically past this but... You make me so stupidly happy that sometimes I don’t know what to do with myself. I swear that my life had no meaning before I met you, but you’re so cool and amazing and one-time Taeyong caught me writing lyrics about you instead of IU Mobiles and I know you said to wait but I don’t think I can because you’re so cute and your son kinda pressured me and I'm so weak for him and it’s really sad because Renjun is one-seventh of my age and always outsmarts me and sometimes he scares me. Are you sure you birthed him? Wait no, that makes sense because Renjun is super cool- Oh dear I’m rambling, I make no sense, I had a list of reasons why I like you and a confession written in my notes app but now I can’t remember anything, but this is exactly what the problem is because you make me stupid and- Oh. Sorry.”

Vivi looks...Haseul isn’t sure what emotion Vivi is holding, but her eyes are glossy. _There I go again. Saying too much._

“I’m actually here for the glu-”

“Shit Haseul. You make me happy too even though you are dumber than my son.”

_Yey?_

“But everyone is dumber than Renjun. I am too, for making you wait. And for some reason, I like how you’re dumber than my four-year-old.”

_Phew?_

“Date me.”

“ _What?_ ” Haseul wasn’t expecting that.

“I don’t know what I worried about. At first, it’s so stupid, I thought- I thought that maybe Renjun might want a male figure, heteronormativity or something, in his life, but Renjun loves you so much. Last week he only talked about you to Sicheng and I think he cried when I said you’d be gone for a week- I don’t know. It was so stupid of me to think that, but I think. I think I was just scared of my feelings, Haseul. You make me feel things that I haven’t felt in years. I got over it, and everything else and I would’ve confessed last week but I wanted to do something really dramatic and- Are you crying? Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

She is because she couldn’t care less because _Vivi is dating me!_

Vivi, bless her soul, understands. At least Haseul thinks so, because why else would she be kissing her right now.

Everything about her is soft and everything Haseul could’ve ever dreamed of. She wraps her hands about Vivi’s waist, and carefully slips her tongue into Vivi’s mouth with ease.

“ _Ah_! Haseul-”

“YOU GUYS ARE SO GROSS SICHENG TOLD ME TO DO THIS AS A JOKE!” Renjun’s tiny hands are trying to pull them apart as he shrieks complaints. Neither of them even noticed him entering the closet.

 _Of course_ , it was Sicheng. Haseul laughs.

“You,” Haseul bops his nose, “are going to have to stop calling me _nai nai_ sooner or later.”

“Haseul!” Vivi teasingly whacks Haseul’s arm.

Haseul picks Renjun up and twirls him around, emitting giddy giggles from the boy and his mom. She thinks she can stay here forever. She swears to God she will.

**Author's Note:**

> And then they got married and adopted Hellspawn #2 Yeojin! 
> 
> I have so many problems with this fic (even google docs kept crashing while creating this) and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! My grammar...oof. Don't be scared to give negative criticism!!! 
> 
> Also Renjun gets the Loona lightstick and starts using it as a weapon at school. might consider writing a yeorry or norenmin spin off of this idk tell me if I should or not
> 
> Talk to me on Twitter (imlonely): https://twitter.com/your_mayoesty  
> I hope this works I want Twitter friends


End file.
